Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-09-24

shall. It's very solitude added to it's majes-
ty, and it's towering cliffs seemed to kiss
the sky. Indeed, generally speaking, they
were clothed in clouds that lay in neecy
masses upon their broad and level battle
ments.
| sat up in my hammock and ga2ed out
across the plain at this thrilling and ms
jestic sight, and l suppose that Billali
noticed il, for he brought his litter along
side.
Behold the house Of Shetcho-must-be-
obeyed!' he said. "Had ever a queen such
a throne bef0res"
ut is wonderful, my father" Unanswered.
'But how does one enter? Those cliffs
look hard to climb"
Thou shalt see, my Balloon. Look now
at the plain before us. What thinkest thou
that il is? Thou art a wise man. Come,
tell me-"
looked, and saw what appeared to be
the line OF roadway running straight to-
ward the base Of the mountain, though it
was covered with turf. There were high
banks on each side of it, broken here and
there, but fairly continuous on the whole,
the meaning OF which l did not under
stand. it seemed SO very odd that any
body should embank a roadway.
"Well, my father" 1 answered, II sup
pose that it is a road, otherwise / should
have been inclined TO say that it was the
bed Of q river, or rather" / added, observ-
ing the extraordinary directness of the
cutting, "of "A canal"
Billali-who, 10y the way, was none the
worse for HIS immersion of the day before
nodded his head sagely as he replied:
"Thou art right, my son. 1t is a channel
cut cut by those who were before us in
this place, TO carry away water. OF this
ara I sure; within the rocky circle OF the
great mountain whittier we journey was
once a great lake. But those who were
before us, by wonderful arts Of which I
know naught. hewed a path for the water
through the solid rock of the mountain,
piercing even to the bed Of the lake. But
first they cut the channel that thou seest
across the plain. Then, when at last the
water burst out, It rushed down the chan
mel that had been made to receive it, and
crossed this plain till it reached the low
land behind the rise, and there, perchance,
1T made the swamp through which we
have come. Then, when the lake was
drained dry, the people whereof l speak
built q mighty city, whereof naught but
ruins and the name of Kor yet remaineth,
on its bed, and from age to age hewed the
caves and passages that thou wilt see."
"It may be-" / answered. But If SO,
how is it that the lake does not fill up again
with the rainsi"
NAY, my son, the people were a wise
people, and they left a drain to keep 1t
clear. Seest thou the river TO the right?"
and he pointed TO a fair-sized stream hat
wound away across the plain, some four
miles from us. ''That is the drain, and it
comes ont through the mountain where
this cutting goes in. At first perhaps, the
water ran down this canal, but afterward
the people turned ii, and used the cutting
for a road"
"And is there, then, no other place where
one may enter into the great mountain"
i asked, Except through the drain"
'Thers is q place" he answered, "whero
cattle and men on foot may cross with
much labor, but it is secret. A year might
est thou search and shouldst never find it.
1t IL only used once a year, when the herds
of cattle that have been fatting on the
slopes OF the mountain, and on this plain,
are driven into the space within"
"And does She live there always?" l
asked, cor does she come at times without
the mountainf"
may, my son, where she Is, there she is"
BY now we were well on to the great
plain, and / was examining with delight
the varied beauty Of its semi-tropical flow
ers and trees, the latter Of which grew
singly, or at most ia clumps of three or
four, much Of the timber being of large
size. and belonging apparently to a variety
of evergreen oak. There were also many
palms, some of them more than one hundred
feet high, and the largest and most beauti-
ful tree-ferns that | ever saw, about which
hung clouds Of jeweled ho~ney-suckers
and great-winged butterflies. Wandering
about among the trees, or c%rouching in the
long and featheNd grass, were all varie-
ties Of game, from rhinoceros down. Isaw
rhinoceros, buffalo, "a large herd), Gland,
quagga, and sable antelope, the most beau
tiful of all the bucks, not to mention many
smaller varieties of game, and three Os-
triches which scudded away at our ap-
proach like white drift before a gale. SO
plentiful was the game that ut last | could
stand it no longer. i had a single-barreled
sporting Martini with me in the litter, the
Express being too cumbersome, and
espying a beautiful fat Gland rubbing HIM
self under one of the oak-like trees, l
jumped out of the litter, and proceeded to
creep as near 10 MIN rs L COulu. lie leu
me come within eighty yards, and then
turned his head, and stared at me prepare
tory to running away. / lifted the rifle,
and taking him about midway down the
shoulder, for he was side on to me, fired.
/ never made a cleaner shot or a better kill
In all my small experience, for the great
buck sprung right up into the air and fell
dead. The bearers, who had all halted to
see the performance, gave a murlnur OF
surprise-en unwonted compliment from
these sullen people, who never appear to
be surprised at anything, and n party Of
the guard at once ran off to cut the animal
| up. AS for myself, though I was longing
TO have a look az him, l sauntcred back to
| my litter as though l had been in the habit
of killing Gland all my life, feeling that l
had gone up several degrees in the estima-
ton of the Amahagger, who looked on the
whole thing as a very high-class manifes-
tation OF witchcraft. AS u matter Of fact,
however, | had never seen an Gland in q
wild state before. Billali received me with
enthusiasm.
sit is wonderful, my son the Baboon,"
he cried-'wonderfull Thou art a very
great man, though so ugly. Had ! not
seen, surely / would never have believed.
| nj ft,nJ, cavacf tbaf fhnu Wilt taaoh ,~a